1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data networks, and more particularly, to a method and system for ordering advertising spots for advertisements over a data network to a target user during the transmission of motion pictures.
2. Description of the Related Art
The delivery of advertisements to viewers of television programs has been based on an inefficient and wasteful model that does not reach the true target audience for the advertisement being shown. That is, the present paradigm for pricing and delivery of advertisements does not deliver the advertisement to only those viewers who should be targeted for that advertisement. This problem is best explained with reference to prior art FIG. 1.
Prior art FIG. 1 is a block diagram view of the present advertisement pricing model. In prior art FIG. 1, an example is provided for ordering an advertising spot by a feminine product company for a feminine hygiene product to be viewed by 100,000 women between the ages of 35 and 50. The “demographics” in this example include a number (100,000 individuals), a gender (women) and an age (between 35 and 50). This is shown at box 5 of prior art FIG. 1. Then at box 10, the television broadcaster or similar entity researches the television shows to determine which shows satisfy all, or a significant portion of all, demographics requested by the feminine product company at box 5. In the example of prior art FIG. 1, the television show chosen is women's tennis. At box 15, the cost per 1,000 (CPM) is calculated as a function of the most significant demographic in the viewing audience. That is, not all television shows may satisfy the three demographics (number (100,000), gender (women) and ages (35–50)), but a particular television show may have a significant percentage of those three demographics. Based on that CPM, at box 20, the television broadcaster charges a price ($10,000 for a 30-second spot) which is essentially a $100 CPM. The actual number of viewers is 360,000 people at box 23. Then at box 25, the advertisement is shown on the television during a television show.
The waste with the pricing model shown in prior art FIG. 1 is explained by reference to boxes 30, 35 and 40 which demonstrate the demographics of the individuals that actually view the advertisement (box 30), the cost per individual (box 35) based on the $10,000 charge by the television broadcaster and the inefficiency analysis (box 40) that results using this pricing model. At box 30, six different groups of individuals actually viewed the advertisement (box 31). Specifically, from box 30, 125,000 women between the ages of 35 and 50 viewed the advertisement; however, individuals with different, non-targeted demographics also viewed the advertisement. Those individuals include 75,000 women between the ages of 20 to 35 (box 32), 25,000 women that are teenagers (box 33), 75,000 men ages 35 to 50 (box 34), 50,000 men ages 20 to 35 (box 36) and 10,000 men in their teens (box 37). Essentially, the advertisement was placed in this television show (e.g. women's tennis) based on the 125,000 women ages 35 to 50. However, the remaining viewers (boxes 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37) are not individuals that the feminine product company wanted to show the advertisement to, yet the feminine product company is paying for those non-targeted individuals.
The amount that the feminine product company is paying for those individuals is shown in box 35. The costs per individuals as shown in box 35 are arbitrary costs based on the percentage of viewers of the total viewing audience multiplied by the $10,000 cost. Thus, in box 35, the 125,000 women ages 35 to 50 have a cost of $3,472.50 for the group shown while the other costs for the non-targeted individuals is also directly proportional to the percentage of the number of individuals who see the advertisement (box 30) to the total viewers (360,000). In box 40, the inefficiency analysis is shown where only the costs of the group of the 125,000 women ages 35 to 50 (box 31) are accurate and all the remaining individuals viewing the tennis match are wasted. In conclusion, only $3,472.50 of the $10,000.00 total costs for all individuals is accurate, resulting in a waste of 65.3%. This correlates to a waste of $6,528.00 of the $10,000.00 paid for the advertisement because only approximately 35% of the individuals viewing the advertisement were in the target audience.
Prior art FIG. 1 exemplifies the limitations in the prior art in that estimates based on group demographics are inefficient and wasteful. A need exists for an advertisement system that targets the advertising to particular individuals rather than a group. In addition, the feminine product company is paying the same costs per individual for all the 125,000 women between the ages 35 and 50, when the women closer to a particular age in that range (e.g., 35 years old) may be a better target for the company than women at the other end of that range (e.g., 50 years old). Therefore, there is a further need to be able to highly individualize the targeted audience on a person-by-person basis rather than on a group basis.